


When You Listen to My Words

by cycling_lane



Series: The Unnamed OC [1]
Category: Bastille (Band), Dan Smith (Bastille) - Fandom, Dan Smith - Fandom
Genre: (but not really), Bitch-Alert, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Fluff, Glastonbury, Happy Ending, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8325409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cycling_lane/pseuds/cycling_lane
Summary: “I’ve been half in love with you since the moment we met,” Dan whispers, brushing a piece of hair away from my face. He looks at me with such tenderness that my knees threaten to give out. “How did you not know that?”
  In which our unnamed OC goes to Glastonbury in the hope that it will make Dan see her as more than just a friend. Only everything goes wrong…





	1. Worst Idea Ever

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Overjoyed by Bastille. 
> 
> Oh dear. One minute, I'm casually reading QueenDidymus' Good Grief. A week later, I've written this thing and bought last-minute tickets to go see Bastille...

 

Out of all the bad ideas I’ve ever had, this one is by far the worst. 

Rain drips down my collar as I make my way over the muddy fields of Somerset. It’s wet, it’s windy, and I’m dragging along a twenty-kilo bag that makes me feel like my arm is about to fall off. When the security guard told us that Camping Fields A and B were completely full, but that Field C was ‘only a few minutes that way’, he clearly had a distorted view of reality. We’ve been walking for over half an hour, carrying food, sleeping bags and tents, but it’s still nowhere in sight.

Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?

“It’s not that bad,” Freddie says, when she sees my face. My best friend is at least fifteen centimetres shorter than me and weighs about as much as a forest fairy, but she’s marching across the muddy field like it’s nothing. “I’m sure we’ll be there soon.”

I snort. That’s easy for her to say. Contrary to me, Freddie actually _wants_ to be here.

We had been at Thomas’ birthday party two months ago when this terrible idea hit me. Dan was there too –after all, he and Freddie’s boyfriend have been best friends since primary school. He might have been the reason why I was at the party in the first place. Not that I will ever admit that. As far as everyone knows, I think of him as a friend _._ Only Freddie knows that I have a huge crush on him.

I was in the kitchen, looking for a new bottle of wine, when out of nowhere Dan approached me. My heart had stuttered a bit, which was totally understandable. He looked incredibly handsome: tall and lean, with a wild mess of dark curls on top of his head and a well-worn band shirt clinging to his shoulders.

“Hey,” he said.

I made a noise that was supposed to sound like ‘hi’, but probably sounded more like a whale getting an asthma attack.

Dan didn’t seem fazed. He just started chatting and before I knew it, I was completely relaxed and laughing at his stories. Time flew by like it always did when we were together. I had just finished telling him about the nightmare that was my PhD dissertation when he brought up Glastonbury. 

“We’re playing on the Pyramid Stage, just before Coldplay,” he said, pride evident in his voice. “I still can’t believe it. I mean, it’s _Glastonbury_.”

I knew what Glastonbury was. I’m not a complete idiot. And I may not be the biggest fan of music festivals (to be completely honest, up until today I hadn’t actually been to one), but the happiness and excitement shining in Dan’s blue eyes was enough to fuel my own delight.

“That’s amazing!” I congratulated him. An enormous smile nearly split my face into two. “I wish I could be there to see you play.”

Which wasn’t a lie. Seeing Dan and his band perform has always been on my bucket list.

Dan looked surprised. He titled his head to the side and regarded me with an intensity that made my stomach flutter. His grin seemed to be stupidly glued into place. “Really?”

“Of course!” Realising that I might have sounded a tad too enthusiastic, I quickly tried to play it down. “I mean, I love music festivals. I wanted to go to Glastonbury even before I knew you guys were going to play there.”

Freddie and Thomas chose that moment to come stumbling into the kitchen, looking up when they heard my declaration.

“You did?” Thomas asked, sounding confused. “But when we were buying tickets, you said-”

Freddie elbowed her boyfriend’s ribs. She stared at Dan and me with narrowed eyes, looking like she was trying very hard to figure something out. Suddenly I realised how close we were standing to each, alone in the semi-dark kitchen as the birthday party raged on in the living room. I could count Dan’s lashes from where I was, merely inches away from him. I even saw the faint dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose.

My best friend’s face broke out into a grin. 

“It really sucks,” she suddenly told Dan, “we tried to get three tickets so we could go to the festival together, but we could only get two.” 

Thomas looked even more confused.

I didn’t know what Freddie was trying to achieve either.

Dan was completely oblivious to our bewilderment. He just looked from Freddie to me and said, without hesitation, “I can get you a ticket.”

“I don’t-”

“Really?” Freddie interrupted me. She danced over to where he stood and gave him a hug. “That’s great! She would’ve been _so_ disappointed if she’d missed your performance.”

_What are you doing?_ I wanted to hiss at her. She had as good as told him about my embarrassing crush on him! That wasn’t what best friends did!

But then she shot me a covert wink over his shoulder and realisation dawned upon me. When she released him from her hug, Dan’s smile had practically doubled in intensity and was focused directly on me. He was obviously flattered. And he seemed almost… _excited_ at the prospect of me coming to see him perform.

Hope flared inside of me. Maybe this was my chance? My chance to show him that I was more than Freddie’s best friend, more than the girl who spent most of her time submerged in text books and scientific papers as she tried to finish her doctorate. Maybe this was my opportunity to show him that I could be fun and spontaneous. That I could be his type.  

“I would love to go to Glastonbury,” I told Dan, with my heart in my throat. “If you could get me a ticket, that would be fantastic.”

Famous last words.

Because Dan _did_ get me a ticket and now I am trudging along muddy camping sites, cursing myself for going along with Freddie’s plan. Being here is stupid. I know that Dan and his band are at Glastonbury for the entire weekend, even though they won’t have to perform until Sunday, but I probably won’t see him. He’s a freaking pop star, for goodness’ sake. Surely he has better things to do than hanging out with us.

“Hey, Dan!” Thomas says, just when I let out a frustrated groan.

I snap my mouth closed. No! No way!

And yet there he is. The other festivalgoers in search of Field C part for him like the red sea as Dan makes his way towards us. He looks amazing. His hair is damp and tousled, and he’s wearing a pair of wellies that somehow don’t look ridiculous on him.

“Hey, guys,” he smiles when he has reached us. His blue eyes pause on me.

I feel my cheeks redden.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Freddie asks, voicing my thoughts.  

Dan looks away from me and points at Thomas with a playful smile. “Tommy here texted me. He said that you could use some help with your bags.”

Freddie shoots her boyfriend a disapproving glare.

“What?” He protests. “If he’d bothered to get us VIP tickets, we wouldn’t have had to bring our own tents. The least he can do is carry one.”

“It’s alright,” Dan says quickly, before Freddie can say anything else. “I don’t mind.”

When he re-focuses his attention on me, I’m not prepared for it. I almost jump when he puts a warm hand on the arm I’m carrying my bag with. “Let me get that.”

“Oh, but I-”

Before I’ve had the chance to refuse, he has taken my unbelievably heavy bag and swung it over his shoulder. He smiles, and I notice that one of his teeth is slightly crooked. It makes him even sexier. My heart stops, stutters a few times and then picks up a rhythm that’s twice as fast as before.

Shit. What’s wrong with me?

“Field C is only two minutes away,” Dan says. His dimples make my stomach do a summersault. “I’ll help you pitch your tent when we get there.”

From the corner of my eyes, I can see Freddie waggle her eyebrows at me. She looks like the cat that ate the canary. 

Good God.

 

+++

 

I’ve liked Dan since I met him nearly three years ago, but my crush on him was never as out of control as it’s been for the past six months. Now even a smile in my direction is enough to make me swoon. I don’t know what caused it. It could be the fact that I’ve spent most of my time in the university library this year, hidden away from the outside world. Limited social interaction is bound to drive a girl insane and sexually frustrated.

But it could also be the fact that, although he’s the lead singer of an internationally successful band and unbelievably talented, he’s also a genuinely sweet, down-to-earth and kind person. If anything, he’s actually a bit of a dork. 

I’ve always been a sucker for dorks.

The night I met Dan was very similar to Thomas’ birthday party. Freddie and I had just gotten our Masters and even though they hadn’t been dating very long at that point, Thomas insisted on throwing Freddie a graduation party. It was a great night. I didn’t know a lot of people, except for a couple of university friends that Fred had invited, but Thomas’ mates were all very nice and welcoming.

I was just telling a ginger-haired guy about my plans to get a PhD, when we were joined by a tall man with amazing eyes and a wild riot of black hair.

“Oi, Dan!” The man I’d been chatting with said. “You’ve got to meet this girl, you’d like her. Beauty _and_ brains!”

My cheeks heated up.

The dark-haired man –Dan- turned to me with a charming grin. “Really?” He asked.

I ducked my head and smiled uncomfortably. “I don’t know.”

“What part are you uncertain about? The beauty or the brains?” His eyes were so blue and so intently focused on me, that I felt lost for a couple of seconds.

“Uh…” I managed eventually. “Both?”

He laughed. It was a full-out belly laugh; one that made his shoulders shake and caused him to throw his head back, filling the room with his musical laughter. The movement displayed his strong throat perfectly. I felt my stomach flutter.

Even now, looking back at that moment, I think that was actually the first time I felt butterflies. It wasn’t the last time –but all those times since have been with him.

He held out his hand. “Dan Smith.”

I introduced myself.

“I can see the beauty part,” Dan smiled, when the man I’d been speaking with excused himself. I blushed furiously. "But I fear that we’ll have to talk for a bit before I can determine the brains part. Do you want another drink?”

After that, the rest of the night flew by. Dan was unbelievably polite and kept the conversation flowing effortlessly, which gave me some time to compose myself and get my nerves together. As the night went on, I became more and more at ease. It didn’t take long before we were chatting like old friends, laughing and sharing jokes as if we’d known each other for years.

At the same time, though, it also felt amazingly _exciting_ –so incredibly new and… Full of hope, almost. I didn’t need a mirror to know that I was glowing. I could practically _feel_ the happiness radiating from me -all because he wouldn’t stop looking at me with those eyes and that secretive, amused little grin, like he had a secret and I was the only one in the entire world who knew about it.

“Wow, it’s getting late!” I said after a couple of hours, when the party was dwindling down. I brought my hands to my flushed face. “I feel like we’ve been talking for ages, and that the only thing we’ve talked about is me.”

Which was uncharacteristic. Usually I felt extremely uncomfortable talking about myself. Yet tonight I had told Dan all about my childhood, my family, my time at uni and my plans for the future.

He shook his head. “No, we haven’t.”

“We have!” I protested, laughing. “You know practically everything about me, but I don’t even know what you do!”

His laughter quieted down, his smile suddenly seemed off. “You don’t?” He asked, regarding me intently.

“Should I?”

He ducked his head. “No, I guess you shouldn’t. I’m just not used to it, that’s all. Not anymore.”

I leaned towards him. Sometime during the night, we had sat down on a sofa in a quiet corner of the living room, so we could hear each other better. It also meant that we were now close enough that I could smell him. His scent was amazing; a combination of subtle cologne, soap and something that was uniquely him.

“Okay, now you’ve made me curious. Why would I know you?"

Dan seemed to hesitate for a split-second, but eventually turned towards me with such an honest expression on his face that I thought he was going to share his biggest, darkest secret. “I’m in a band.”

“Ah.” A musician. That explained a lot, actually. He definitely had the artistic, creative vibe going on, but I couldn’t see him as a painter. As a comics artist, maybe, but music made more sense.

“You may have heard of us, actually. We’re called Bastille.”

I hadn’t, but that wasn’t odd. I listened to the radio and whatever Freddie was currently obsessing about, but rarely picked any music myself.

“Sorry,” I said, biting my lower lip apologetically. “But that doesn’t sound familiar.”

“It doesn’t?”

“You seem almost relieved.”

He laughed sheepishly, his eyes twinkling. “We just released a single and it’s, uh… It’s doing pretty well. It’s called Pompeii, I don’t know if you….” He looked at me like that should ring a bell, but I just shook my head.

“Sorry,” I said again. “Maybe if I hear it, I’ll recognise it. Has it been on the radio?”

“Yeah. A lot, actually. It pretty much changed our lives overnight.”

I looked at him. His face had gotten flushed as he talked about his band, and although the pride was evident in his eyes, he seemed afraid to show it. His body language told me that he felt mostly awkward and extremely self-conscious.

My heart melted a bit.

“Is it good, though?” I asked.

He looked confused. “Huh?”

“Your life,” I clarified. “You say it has changed. Is it a good change?”

Dan sunk against the back of the sofa and looked at me like he was seeing me in an entirely new light, like we hadn’t just spent the past two and a half hours laughing and talking. “You know what,” he said, after he had thought about it for a couple of seconds, “it is. I mean, it’s weird that people suddenly know my name and approach me in the street, but it’s also really cool to know that they’ve heard and enjoyed my music. It’s what I’ve always dreamt of.”

“Well, then,” I said. “That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

He smiled at me –a perfect, blissful, happy smile, his earlier discomfort completely forgotten- and for a moment I felt blinded. My heart stuttered and my breath caught in my throat.

Dan stared into my eyes. “Pretty amazing, yeah.”

 

+++

 

I’m not the only one who isn’t good at camping. I realise that when forty-five minutes later, Thomas and Dan scratch their chins and look at each other helplessly, surrounded by tent parts.

“You’re all hopeless,” Freddie grumbles, as she drives a peg into the ground. With her small frame, dainty nose and purple pixie cut she looks more cute than intimidating. Still, the boys wisely keep their mouths shut. “Are you all thumbs or something?”

I secretly glance at Dan. The rain stopped a while ago, but he’s still completely soaked. Before I know it, I’m imagining what it would be like to take a shower with him. It’s a pretty G-rated fantasy, though. In my mind, we’re standing under the hot spray together, grinning stupidly at each other as I shampoo his hair. I’m on the tips of my toes and he’s holding my hips to keep me balanced.    

The image causes a giddy feeling to spread through my body. In a matter of seconds, I’ve got an entire scenario in my head. It’s Monday morning; I have to go to university, but he has the day off, and so after the shower he tries to lure be back to bed to cuddle.  

“Ohmigod, Danny?"

I am just about to decide whether Daydream-Me can resist a lazy day in bed with Dan or not, when a shrill voice tears me from my fantasies.

“Ohmigod, Danny! It _is_ you!”

A strange girl is making her way towards us (or rather, towards Dan), a blinding smile plastered across her face. She’s gorgeous. That much is pretty hard to miss. Her tawny skin is flawless and her dark curls looks like they belong in an Herbal Essence commercial. And on top of that, she has legs that go on for days.

“Farrah?” Dan asks. He sounds surprised.

My stomach twists uncomfortably. I had hoped that she was an overenthusiastic fangirl, who just so happened to look like a supermodel, but Dan opens his arms and greets her with a hug that looks anything but platonic.

She gives him a kiss on the cheek, right next to his mouth, and exclaims excitedly: “What a happy coincidence! Gods, I’ve missed you –it’s been far too long.”

I look at Freddie. She appears just as confused as I am.

Thomas notices. “What an exciting reunion,” he says, slapping Dan’s shoulder _–hard._ “Won’t you introduce us, Dan?”

Somehow, I feel like someone has just taken the rug from under my feet.

Dan rakes a hand through his hair and opens his mouth, seemingly unsure of what to say. The girl interrupts him before he can utter a word.

“I’m sorry. How terribly rude of me,’ she breathes, and blushes. It’s a light pink flush that only makes her look more beautiful, rather than the angry red blotches that take over my face whenever I’m embarrassed. She keeps a familiar grip onto Dan’s arm, but holds out a hand for us to shake. “I’m Farrah. Dan and I, uh…” She giggles. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

A wave of disappointment crashes over me. That’s it. If I wasn’t sure before that little hesitation, I am now.

They’ve had sex. 

 

 


	2. Turn Around and Walk Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thank you so much for the lovely comments, kudos and subscriptions. I honestly wasn't expecting such a positive response, so I'm very flattered and excited. Hopefully you'll enjoy this second chapter!

 

After ten minutes, our tents are finally pitched. It’s all thanks to Farrah. She offered to help as soon as she saw that Freddie was struggling with the damned things on her own. Apparently she’s an experienced camper, because within minutes, the canvas was stretched over the tent poles and the pegs were driven into the ground.

I could tell that Freddie was very grateful for the help, but she clearly didn’t know whether or not to show it. Instead, she kept shooting concerned glances my way. 

I kept my chin up and tried to appear unfazed, but the truth is that I’m pretty rattled. Farrah’s arrival has changed everything. She clearly has Dan wrapped around her finger and even though Thomas resisted in the beginning, she has charmed him as well. Not that I can blame them. She looks like a freaking Bollywood star. And she’s nice too.

“I love your shirt!” She tells me, when the sun starts to peek through the clouds. I’ve taken off my jacket, so my new top is on full display. I bought it last week with Dan in mind: it’s white, with a V-neck that shows off something but not _too_ much, and it has a quote about Icarus on the front. Since we met, I’ve been listening to Bastille’s music and that song is definitely one of my favourites. Not that he knows that. As far as Dan’s concerned, I don’t know any of his work.

I force a smile. “Thank you.”

“It looks great on you,” Farrah continues. “The colour of the letters really brings out your eyes. I’ve always wanted green eyes!”

I don’t believe her. She has gorgeous grey eyes with tiny flicks of gold that sparkle when the light hits them. No one would want to change those.

“How do you and Dan know each other?” Freddie asks, when we’ve all sat down in front of our two tents, drinking and eating something before the first performances start.

Farrah looks at Dan with a secretive smile on her lips. “Oh, we go way back.”

Dan ducks his head. From where I’m sitting, I can see the back of his neck turn red. He’s blushing. _Blushing!_

I’ve never seen him do that before.

“Really?” Freddie asks. To anyone else, she probably sounds genuinely interested, but I can hear the steel in her voice. Evidentially Thomas can too, because he frowns. “How far back?"

Farrah flicks her hair over one shoulder. “Our mothers were good friends, so we basically grew up together. We lost sight of each other when I went to university, though, until – _bam!_ \- one day I turned up at work and there he was.”

“Farrah works for our record company,” Dan explains with a fond expression on his face. “She’s a PR-wizard.”

“You’re too kind,” she says, but I can see that she’s secretly enjoying this. She gives him another covert smile.

For fuck’s sake. Why don’t they just go straight to his tent? I really don’t need to see them seduce each other right in front of my eyes.

“I’m going to, uh, go to the loo,” I announce awkwardly, pushing myself up on my feet.

“I’m coming with you,” Freddie says. When we’re out of hearing range, she sighs. “So…”

“So…” I repeat solemnly. It feels like all energy has left me. “I guess that’s the end of our plan. There’s no way I can compete with that.”

“Don’t say that!”

I shake my head, completely disillusioned. “Please, Freddie. We both saw the same thing, didn’t we?”

My best friend doesn’t answer. She doesn’t have to. We continue our walk in silence, weaving a way through the maze of tents.

“I’m really excited for the first show,” Freddie begins, when we’ve nearly reached the clutter of chemical toilets at the edge of the camping site. “I love Two Door Cinema Club.”

It’s clearly an attempt to lift my spirits, so I force a smile and nod dutifully. “Me too.”

To be entirely honest, I know only two of their songs. But that’s pretty much the case for every artist and group that Freddie and Thomas have planned to see this weekend. I like music, but I’m never a ‘fan’. I never listen to an entire album and learn the lyrics by heart. It’s why I don’t go to concerts.

It’s also why I didn’t want to go to Glastonbury when Freddie first asked me if I wanted to tag along, before she and Thomas bought their tickets. Even now, I’m just here for Dan. And now that has become a hopeless case…

I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here.

 

+++ 

 

When we finally get back to our tents I’m still traumatised by my first experience with festival toilets. I’ve never seen anything more disgusting in my entire life.

“There you are!” Thomas exclaims, as soon as he sees us. “We were starting to think that we would have to go without you.”

“Don’t you dare,” Freddie says. “I’m going to need to sit on your shoulders if I want to see the stage.”

He puts a hand on his chest, feigning hurt. “Oh, I see how it is. Just using me for my body, huh?”

“Shamelessly.”

Thomas laughs loudly and puts an arm over her shoulders. They look head over heels in love as they take off, walking towards where I think Two Door Cinema Club will be performing.

I don’t know how they do it. When they started dating three years ago, I never thought that they would last. Freddie is loud and sarcastic, with bright purple hair and a clothing style that varies on a daily basis from plain hipster to unashamedly punk. Thomas, on the other hand, is as posh as they come. He wears sweater vests and works as a hedge fund manager in London. He also towers over my best friend with his 6’4”.

But right now, as they walk next to each other, chatting and laughing excitedly, I realise that they’re perfect for each other. They love each other _because_ they’re different. Not despite of it.

I look at Dan. He and I couldn’t be more different, either. He’s creative, artistic and amazingly talented, travelling the world with his band. I’m working hard to become an academic, spending my days in the library and hiding behind my laptop. Does that mean we could be perfect for each other too?

With a heavy heart, I watch as perfect, flawless Farrah links arms Dan’s. “Are you ready to go, love?”

He nods. “Whenever you are.”

When they walk off together as well, leaving me to trail behind the two couples on my lonesome, I realise that _no_ , Dan and I aren’t meant to be.

 

+++

 

I have to admit that I was sceptical beforehand. (Okay. I stood in front of the stage with the longest face ever and my arms folded across my chest, imagining little thunder clouds above my head). But this is actually fun! I love Two Door Cinema Club. Their music makes me feel like I’m sixteen and I’ve gone clubbing for the first time. Within minutes after the band has started, I’m dancing like my life depends on it. I can practically feel my frustration and sadness ebb away.

“Where are we going to next?” I ask Freddie, when the lead singer announces that they have only two songs left to play. I’m out of breath, flushed, and my jeans are covered in mud, but I couldn’t care less.

Freddie laughs. “Ask Dan. I think he has something planned after this.”

Still dancing, I turn to Dan and poke his shoulder.

He immediately brings his head down to my level. “Hey!” he yells, a small smile on his lips. “You having a good time?”

“This is amazing!” I shout over the music. The busy crowd forces us to stand closely together and my stomach flutters a bit.  

“Good! I was scared that you would be going home after day one,” Dan admits. His right mouth corner turns up in amusement. “That would’ve been too bad.”

I blink owlishly. Wait. Did he just say… Does he mean…

Before I can think anything else, I’m jostled by the rowdy group of boys in front of us. Dan shoots them an annoyed glance. They’ve been rambunctious during the entire concert, but they’re really out of control now. One of them nearly elbows me in the face when he starts jumping around spastically.

“Let’s move back a bit,” Dan yells. He looks at Thomas and Freddie, but Thomas’ height and broad shoulders are enough to keep them safe from harm. Farrah isn’t anywhere in sight.

I nod breathlessly.

My stomach flutters when Dan leads me through the throng of people. He may lack Thomas’ wide frame, but he’s pretty tall too, and he quickly gets us to a quieter stretch of grass further away from the stage.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m great.”

Dan smiles and combs a hand through his dark hair, making the curls stick in all different direction. “Good. Listen, I- Uh…” He frowns like he’s trying very hard to figure out his next words. I tilt my head to the side, waiting patiently. “I’ve been thinking about how to bring this up for the last couple of weeks…”

O-kay… Interesting.

For a couple of seconds, it’s almost like his blue eyes are trying to read my thoughts. But then he lets out a small chuckle and shakes his head, looking at his feet.

“I’m just going to say it,” he states, lifting his head back up. “Someone told me that you, eh… That you like me.”

My heart drops. So does my jaw. 

“ _Like,_ like me, I mean,” he continues, putting emphasis on the first ‘like’ as if it wasn’t clear what he meant beforehand. “Because, uh- obviously we like each other. In the normal way, I mean. The friendly way. We, uh, we _are_ friends, right?”

I’m rendered speechless for the second time in five minutes. Dan regards me intently and I just stare back, moving my lips as I’m trying to think of something to say, but not finding anything. I probably look like a goldfish.

This is the moment I’ve been fantasising about since Thomas’ birthday party. I’d imagined us in the Glastonbury crowd together, huddled in our own little bubble, as he stared into my eyes and declared his undying love for me.

But this isn’t like my fantasies. This is completely wrong. First of all, we’re not in a bubble. I’m painfully aware of everything that is happening around us. A few metres away, a group of teenage girls is giggling and pointing at Dan. One of them is fixing her hair –probably getting ready to come over and ask the lead singer of Bastille for a photo.

Secondly, hearing Dan say that I might like him sounds weird. Ridiculous, even. And come to think of it, he didn’t sound very happy or head over heels in love when he said it. Not at all. If anything, he sounded reluctant.

Is he trying to let me down gently?

He doesn’t have to. I already know that my stupid crush on him is beyond silly.

Quickly, I exclaim: “What? No! That’s ridiculous. Who on earth told you that?”

Dan looks taken aback. He blinks and rakes another hand through his hair. For a split second he looks almost disappointed, but that expression is gone so quickly that I must have imagined it. “So it’s not true?” he asks, with a tone that I can’t quite place.

My heart beats so frantically that I fear it will break one of my ribs. “Well,” I begin. “I mean- I don’t-”

“There you are!”

My shoulders slump when Farrah appears next to Dan. Even though she’s been dancing in the same muddy field as us, she still looks perfect. Her skin is glowing and her outfit looks effortlessly cool.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she says, her eyes darting from Dan to me and back again. “Dan, I got you some water.”  

Now that Farrah has joined us, the group of girls has clearly decided that it’s okay to approach Dan as well. The tallest of them, a pretty blonde in pink wellies, holds up her phone with a shy smile.

“Hi, you’re Dan Smith, right? Would you mind taking a photo with us?”

Dan looks at me, but I pretend to be very busy examining a loose thread on my jeans. He quickly puts on smile. “Of course,” he says. “Do you just want a group photo or separate ones as well?”

Of course the girls also want separate ones. As the blonde poses for a selfie with Dan, the other four stand next to Farrah. They recognise her from Bastille’s Instagram and in no-time, they’re burying her in compliments.

“You’re so pretty!” One of them gushes.

“And so cool,” another agrees. “Where did you get those shorts?”

“Are you and Dan dating?”

Before I can hear Farrah answer, I turn around and walk away.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... What do we think, are Dan and Farrah together or not? Either way, I hope you enjoyed this second chapter. Don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of it. I don't bite haha ;)


	3. Such A Good Song

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who have never been to the festival: today's Glastonbury performance takes place on the John Peel Stage, which is inside a massive tent. Just so you don't get confused. I've tried to stay as faithful to the 2016 Glastonbury set-list as possible, but have taken some artistic liberties. Especially in the fifth chapter... Prepare yourselves! ;)

 

“Good morning, sleepyhead!”

I groggily open my eyes, after what has been an awful night. Festival camping sites aren’t exactly the most peaceful places to sleep, as it turns out. And Thomas’ and Freddie’s giggling from the other tent didn’t help either. I don’t think I’ve gotten more than three hours of shut-eye.  

“Rise and shine!” Freddie continues. She has zipped my tent open and is sticking her head inside. “We’re leaving in half an hour.” 

Immediately, I’m wide awake. “Half an hour?”

That’s when I notice that Freddie is already dressed. She’s wearing paint-splattered cut-offs, polka-dot wellies and a shirt that must have belonged to Thomas at some point. Just when I’m about to groan, I hear Dan’s voice outside the tent.

My eyes widen. “He’s here?”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Freddie bites down on her lower lip apologetically. “And Farrah is here, too. They just arrived.”

I fall back into my pillow and throw an arm over my face. “This is without a doubt the worst weekend of my entire life."

“It’s not that bad.” But she doesn’t sound convinced.

I snort. “Fred, I’m going to need at least two cups of coffee and a hot shower before I can face him. I smell awful.”

It’s true. It got really cold during the night, so I put on a thick sweater and three pairs of socks before I went to bed. But now that it’s around noon and the sun has been beating down on my tent for a couple of hours, I’m sticky and sweaty.

“Uhm…” Freddie gives me a pitying look. “About that hot shower… If you want one, you’re going to have to wait in line for at least half a decade. I don’t think Thomas and Dan will want to wait that long.”

 

+++

  

This is just great. I’ve tried to wash up with a washcloth and some water before we left, but I still feel nasty. Freddie doesn’t share my problem. She woke up at five thirty this morning to shower before it became too crowded. She smells like soap and apricot body lotion.

“Tomorrow you’re waking me up,” I tell her, as we stand behind Thomas, Dan and Farrah in front of the John Peel Stage, waiting for the performance to begin. “I feel disgusting.”

Freddie nods dutifully. “Sorry.”  

Around us, the crowd starts to cheer. I automatically look at the stage, where a blond woman has appeared. I don’t recognise her. A quick glance at Thomas’ programme tells me that it’s Mø –whoever that may be.

“You’ll like her!” Dan tells me, when he sees me looking. It’s crowded in the tent and he has to lower his head to my level so I can hear him. His breath is warm against the side of my face. It makes goose bumps erupt over my entire body.

“It’s Mø!” Thomas shouts in my other ear. His thunderous volume yanks me back to reality.

Freddie slaps his shoulder. “Stop being annoying,” she grumbles.  “She is perfectly capable of reading the programme herself. Make yourself useful and let me sit on your shoulders.”

He sighs deeply and grumbles. “I’m going to have a back hernia after this.”

She gasps. “Are you calling me fat?”

Thomas looks surprised. “Wha- No! I never said that!” She gives him a look, and he shakes his head like his life depends on it. Which it may. You never know with Freddie. “I didn’t! I was only joking.”

Before his girlfriend can utter another word, he has grasped her hips and lifted her on his shoulders like she weighs nothing.

“There. Happy now?”

Freddie’s face breaks out into a smile. “Very.”

Thomas looks up at her with a tender look on his face and she winks at him, grabbing hold of the hand that is on her knee and pressing a kiss to it. Those two can switch from bickering to nauseatingly in love so quickly that sometimes I fear they might give me whiplash. Dan and I have a theory that the quibbling is some sort of foreplay for them –or at least a form of heavy flirting.

From the corner of my eyes, I see Dan roll his eyes at them. He shoots me a wink when he sees me looking. I smile back. Behind him, Farrah looks like she might throw up.

Suddenly, Dan takes a step closer to me and once again brings his mouth to my ear. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

Uh.

I stare at him with big, wide eyes and say nothing. I’m afraid to reply. Since I couldn’t sleep last night, I lay awake for hours, replaying our conversation earlier that day again and again, until I was an anxious mess of doubt and heartache. Had or hadn’t I imagined the brief flicker of disappointment that had seemed to cross Dan’s face when I told him that I didn’t like him? The question was enough to give me nightmares.

“I didn’t mean to bother you,” Dan continues. He’s looking everywhere but at me and appears extremely fidgety. “Or, you know, make you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t make me uncomfortable.” Shit. That came out way too fast. And way too passionately.

The truth is that he _did_ make me uncomfortable, but not in the way that he’s probably imagining.

Dan looks surprised. “I didn’t? But you seemed very ill at ease. I, uh… I had trouble sleeping last night, because I was worried that I’d done something wrong.”

I bite down on my lip, feeling hope blossom inside of me. He couldn’t sleep last night either. Because of me. Does that mean that I should tell him? I mean, maybe I didn’t imagine his disappointment. Maybe he _does_ like me.

But then I remember last night. After the Two Door Cinema Club’s performance, Dan managed to get us into the VIP-area for a late lunch. Farrah went with us. She seemed to know everyone there, hanging off Dan’s arm and laughing happily as he chatted with important people. We went to three more performances after that, which was great fun, but at the end of the night, when Thomas, Freddie and I had to go to Camping Field C and Dan and Farrah went back to their VIP-tents, I had to watch with a heavy heart as she slipped her hand into his and they walked off together.  

Farrah looks amazing this morning, with glowing skin and a bounce in her step. I don’t want to think about what has caused her to look so happy. (Well, that’s what I tell myself as I dig my nails into my palms, barely hearing Thomas and Freddie scream along with Mø). 

My own appearance comes to mind. After a night in a sleeping bag, my hair is an absolute nightmare and I have huge purple bags under my eyes. To top it off, I lost one of my contacts, which means that I’m wearing the wiry pair of hipster glasses that I got ages ago. They’re old and crooked, and there’s no way that I don’t look hideous right now.

Dan is still looking at me.

I have opened my mouth to assure him that _no, he didn’t make me uncomfortable_ , when suddenly Freddie gives me a nudge. But because she’s sitting on Thomas’ shoulders and pays more attention to the stage than to me, her elbow ends up hitting me squarely in the face.

“This is such a good song!” She exclaims.

I whimper, stumbling back and cupping my nose. A warm gush of blood streams down into my hand. Sharp pain shoots through me. The tent starts to spin and I force my eyes closed, trying to recover my balance.

Two strong hands grasp my upper arms, gentle but determined, and steer me safely through the mass of people and out of the tent.

“Are you okay?”

When I open my eyes, I’m looking straight at Dan. His blue eyes are studying me closely, his lips pressed together in a concerned line.

If I wasn’t in so much pain, I would have made a joke about him having to escort me out of a crowd two days in a row. Instead, I take my hand away from my nose and look at it, grimacing when I see the blood.

“Shit. I don’t have any tissues.”

“Here.” Without a second thought, Dan lifts the hem of his white T-shirt up and away from his body, pressing it against my nose. I wince. “Sorry. Does that hurt?”

I’m too embarrassed to look at him. “It’s fine,” I lie.

He frowns, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he keeps his shirt pressed against my face, careful so he doesn’t hurt me any further, and gently prods at the bridge of my nose with his other hand.

“Well, it’s not broken,” he says eventually. “But it’s definitely going to bruise.”

I don’t know what to say, so I stay quiet.

“We should probably ice it.”

I shake my head.

“You sure?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Let’s just stay here for a while.”

To be honest, I really don’t want to walk to First Aid right now. Not when standing still is giving me enough trouble already.

As if he can read my thoughts, Dan nods wordlessly and eases me into a seating position, sinking down onto the grass in front of me. Just when he is about to lift his shirt to my face again, I lean back.

“You don’t have to do that. I can get my own shirt.”

He looks at me like I’m adorable. “No need to get two tops dirty.”

I grimace when I see the huge red stain on his otherwise pristine white T-shirt, but don’t protest when he presses the soft cotton against my nose.

“Just keep your head tilted back,” Dan says softly. I suddenly notice how close to me he’s sitting. I know that he doesn’t really have a choice, not when he’s using his clothing to stop blood from dripping down my face, but it still makes me light-headed. He smells unbelievably good.

After a couple of minutes, he lifts his shirt away from my skin. “The bleeding has stopped.”

He doesn’t move away.

As we sit there in the grass, staring at each other, with people moving around us; laughing, talking, dancing, shouting, Mø going on in the background, it feels like I’m hypnotised by him. His scent envelops me. His face is so close to mine that I can make out the faint laugh lines around his eyes. The stubble along this jaw is dark and looks soft, even though I know it isn’t. It will scrape against my skin when we kiss.

 _If_ we kiss.

Which we will never do. Because he doesn’t like me like that.

In this moment, however, I feel like anything is possible. I’ve forgotten all about Farrah and the things that make Dan and I too different for each other on paper. I only know right now. And right now, we click. Like we always do. Chemistry fills the air around us, an electric current humming between us.

He’s staring right back, I realise. He’s looking at me, drinking me in, just like I’m looking at him. 

This is it. This is the bubble I fantasised about.

I’ve completely forgotten about my sore nose. My heart speeds up. My breathing quickens.

Slowly, very slowly, Dan lets go of his shirt. The fabric falls back down, but his hand hovers in the air next to my face. It’s like time stands still. Everything else is forgotten when finally, he brushes one finger over my skin. It’s rough and warm, sending shivers through my body.

I suck in a breath.

Dan’s pupils widen slightly. He brushes against my cheek again and this time his fingers rest along my jaw, his thumb continuing to rub over my cheekbone.

“Dan,” I whisper.

“Hm?”

I feel like I’m going to faint when his face comes closer to mine. This is it. It has to be.

“Dan-” I begin again, even though I have no idea what I want to say. As it turns out, it doesn’t matter. Before I have to think of something, he kisses me.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... How was that? Terrible? Meh? Surprisingly okay? Don't be shy and let me know in the comments! Also, THEY'RE KISSING! Just in case you missed that part ;)
> 
> Have a great day/evening/night, everyone!


	4. A Brush of Lips

 

The first kiss is a tender one –it’s mostly of a brush of lips, a split-second that seems to last an eternity, a question. 

_Is this okay?_

It is.

Carefully, I press my lips more firmly against his. The world stops spinning. Dan’s hand moves from my jaw to the back of my neck, to cradle my nape, his fingers burying themselves in my hair. One of my own hands moves to his shirt and twists the soft cotton in a tight grip.

We stay like that for what seems like forever: exchanging soft kisses, hands firmly staying where we put them in fear of breaking the bubble.

We shouldn’t have bothered, as it turns out. A loud, crude wolf-whistle invades the delicate little world we’ve build for ourselves, tearing down the walls and shaking the ground.

I tear my mouth away from his. Horror washes over me.

What have I done? Good god. I kissed another girl’s boyfriend! What if Farrah had seen us? She would have been heartbroken. I may not like her, but she’s done nothing that deserves _this_.

Dan needs longer to return to reality. He blinks a couple of times, his eyes dazed and a stupid smile on his lips. “Don’t mind him,” he says, referring to the man who interrupted us, and leans forward to give me another kiss.

I scramble upright. “No. We can’t.”

“What?” He looks stupefied. “Why?”

“Because of Farrah!”

I feel like crying. Here I am, at Glastonbury, looking like the biggest, most delusional fool ever. Just when I’ve finally done what I’ve been dreaming about for the past three years, it’s too late. He already has a girlfriend.

“What about Farrah?” Dan asks. He’s still sitting in the grass, looking like a truck just ran him over. His lips are red and swollen, his blue eyes confused.

“We can’t kiss when you’re with her!” I say. We’re starting to attract some attention, so I try to keep my voice down and look like nothing is wrong, but it isn’t easy.

I can almost see realisation dawn upon Dan.

His shoulders slump and he rakes a frustrated hand through his hair, blowing out a slow breath. “Farrah and I, we aren’t- We don’t…”

“Don’t tell me there’s nothing there,” I warn him, when he trails off. He obviously doesn’t know what to say. “Even the biggest idiot on the planet can tell that isn’t true.”

“It’s complicated,” Dan settles on eventually.

I let out a bitter chuckle. My insides have turned ice-cold. “Isn’t everything?”

He doesn’t answer. The silence says enough.

 

+++ 

 

When Freddie comes looking for me in my tent, I’ve nearly finished packing.

“There you are! I’m _so_ sorry. Dan told me what happened. I swear, I didn’t know I hit you. I-” That’s when she notices my backpack and folded sleeping bag. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going home,” I mutter.

“Uh, no you’re not. You’re staying.”

I look up, surprised. My best friend is standing in the entrance to my tent, with her hands on her hips and a determined expression on her face. “Didn’t you see how Dan looked at you during Mø? You’ve got him. I told you this plan would work!”

“We kissed,” I blurt out, because I don’t know what else to say.

Freddie gapes at me.

“During Mø,” I continue. “After you hit me in the face. I got a bloody nose and he helped me sort it out. It just kind of… happened.”

My best friend remains silent, which is so uncharacteristic for her that I actually start to worry.

“Fred?”

She snaps her mouth shut. “Wait… You kissed?" A huge grin nearly splits her face in two. "But that’s great! Why are you going if you kissed?”

“Because he’s with Farrah.” I’m trying to fit my sleeping bag into my backpack, struggling with it until Freddie takes it away from me.

“You’re seriously going to let that bitch ruin your weekend?” 

I take a deep breath. “She’s not a bitch, Freddie. Trust me, I’d love to hate her, but she’s actually pretty nice. A bit shallow, maybe. But she hasn’t done anything to warrant us hating her."

“Uh, yes she has,” Freddie tells me. She takes one of my hands and doesn’t continue until I look up at her. “Are you honestly that blind? Haven’t you seen her giving you the evil eye? Like, _constantly_? And she called me a bitch today. I mean, she didn’t think I could hear her, but I did. Thomas even overheard her whining to Dan that she wanted to dump us ‘losers’ and go back to the VIP-area. She’s been whispering blasphemy to Dan behind our backs this entire time!”

“I-I…” I don’t know what to say to that. 

So there's a chance that I may have been completely blind and that Farrah is a bitch after all, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s Dan’s girlfriend. And that I kissed him.

“Ask yourself this,” Freddie says. “’Am I going to let her ruin my weekend?’ You shouldn’t. Even if it doesn’t work out with Dan, Glastonbury is pretty fun, isn’t it?”

I blink a couple of times.

Is it fun?

It kind of is. But can it really be that simple?

“I don’t know if I can stand to see him after this,” I admit, my voice so soft that Freddie almost can’t hear me.

“Oh, sweetheart.” She drops my hand and gives me a hug. “You don’t have to. We’ll make a girls’ weekend out of it.”

 

+++

 

Thomas is waiting outside my tent when we exit, Dan and Farrah nowhere in sight. He looks worried. For a second I’m concerned about how he’ll respond, but when Freddie tells him that we will be making a girl’s only event out of our remaining time at Glastonbury, he just smiles.

“Fine by me,” he says, and gives her a quick kiss. “Call me if you need me.”

Thomas and I have always been friendly, but he surprises me by grabbing me up in a hug before he leaves. “I’m not going to pick sides,” he whispers, as his enormous body dwarfs mine, “because he’s my best mate and I love him, but he’s being a total dickhead.”

A surprised laugh escapes me. “You’ve been eavesdropping on us, Tommy?”

“Pretty hard not to when I’m standing right outside the tent.”

Freddie looks exasperated at his sheepish shrug, but I feel my heart warm up a little. “Thanks,” I say, genuinely touched by his concern for me.

He winks. “Anytime, love. Now, I’m going to pay a visit to our favourite idiot. I have a feeling that he might need me.”

And with those words, he strides towards where the VIP-tents are, already getting his phone out of his pocket and bringing it to his ear.

“So…” I say, turning to Freddie who looks after him with a fond smile. “When did you tell your boyfriend about my crush on his best mate?”

“I didn’t.”

I give her a look.

“No, really! I didn’t!” She persists. “He figured it out himself sometime yesterday.”

I groan. Good god, was I that obvious?

“Don’t think about it,” Freddie says, swinging an arm around my middle and tugging me with her to one of the stages. “We’re going to have some fun.”

 

+++ 

 

Freddie and I have the time of our lives. It’s cleansing to dance and sing (or shout, really) our hearts out. We drift from performance to performance, without any kind of plan. We may not always have the best view of the stages because of it, but it’s still fun. There’s more space for dancing in the back anyway.

Sometime after nine in the evening we sink down on a grassy hill in The Park, plastic containers with fish and chips in our laps.

“I’m starving,” Freddie says, shoving a handful of chips in her mouth.

I laugh. It’s been a wonderful day: warm and dry, and we have a gorgeous view of the sun as it starts to set behind the main stage. There is still a slight ache in my chest, but an optimistic feeling dominates. It might take a while, but I’m going to be fine.

“I love you,” I tell her. “You didn’t have to ditch Thomas today to cheer me up.”

“I did,” she says, matter-of-factly. “You’re my best friend. You needed it. And Thomas is a grown man, he can fend for himself for a little while.”

Her phone buzzes.

“Ah, speak of the devil!” She exclaims when she looks at the screen. “He’s asking where we are.”

Deciding that she looks far too gleeful as she types a response, I ask, “What are you writing?”

_“’Stuffing our faces with junk food in The Park. Go away. We’re fine.’”_

 I shake my head. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. You should start hanging out with my Mum.”

“Rather not.” I shiver. I met Freddie’s Mum only once, for a couple of minutes, but that was long enough to realise why she and my best friend aren’t close. I’ve never met a more stuck-up, arrogant woman in my entire life.

An excited cheer comes from the audience by the main stage at the foot of the hill. The next performance begins.

“It’s James Bay,” Freddie says, entirely for my benefit. She nods her head along with the beat when the first song begins, but she shows no intention to get closer to the stage.

We sit next to each other in silence for the next couple of songs, watching as the crowd in front of the stage grows larger and larger.

“We’ll have to move for the final act. This place will get insane,” Freddie says after a while. Then she looks up to something behind me, a frown appearing on her face. “Farrah?”

I turn around quickly, half-expecting her to start laughing and yell: ‘Gotcha!’, but Farrah is really there.

She looks less confident than otherwise. Her shoulders aren’t pushed back as far as usual and her chin lacks it normal semi-arrogant stance. She actually seems suspicious as she looks down at where I’m sitting in the grass.

“Where is Dan?” She asks.

I look at Freddie, who shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Farrah’s eyes narrow. “He said that he was going to look for you.”

“Oh.” My heart leaps with hope, but I quickly squash that down. “Well, I haven’t seen him.”

“You sure about that? He left over an hour ago.”

“Listen,” Freddie snaps, “if we say we haven’t seen Dan, we haven’t seen Dan. Okay?”

It’s like I see an entirely new person. Farrah’s eyes narrow to little slits, gleaming furiously. Her jaw tightens, her nostrils widen, and her mouth curls into a cruel grin. Within seconds, she’s become one of the ugliest women I’ve ever seen.

“Careful there, midget,” she warns Freddie. “You don’t want to get on my bad side.”

“You have a good side, then?” My best friend asks innocently. She looks completely unimpressed, whereas I’m shifting around uncomfortably.

Farrah must see my unease, because she turns to me and sneers, “I don’t know what he sees in you, but whatever it is, he’ll get over it eventually. So don’t get your hopes up.”

I’m rendered speechless. _Who is this girl?_ The annoyingly perfect, annoyingly nice Farrah I’ve gotten to know over the last couple of days has completely disappeared. A right bitch has taken her place.

Freddie apparently agrees. She gets up and gives the tall brunette a spiteful look. “Listen, you bi-”

“Freddie!” Dan’s relieved voice cuts through the air. He’s obviously spotted her purple hair and pushes his way through the thickening crowd. When he sees Farrah with us and what is without doubt a very shocked look on my face, his expression grows worried.

Farrah turns to him. “Where were you?” She asks in an accusing tone. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

“I- uh, I’ve been looking for her,” he answers, nodding in my direction. He has finally reached us and comes to a halt in front of me, offering a hand to help me up as soon as he notices that I’m the only one left sitting.

I take it hesitantly, ignoring the little sparks that shoot up my arm at the contact.

“But then I ran into some fans and they wouldn’t let me go, and I was afraid that you might’ve left and I…” Dan trails off, having turned his back to Farrah and focusing only on me.

He looks frenzied. His expression is carefully blank, but I can see that his eyes are wider than normal and have a panicked look to them. His hair is sticking up in ten different directions –without a doubt because he’s been running his hand through it continuously. He’s even panting a little.

I blink a couple of times. He’s distressed because he thought I might have left?

Dan seems to notice my confusion, because he takes a step closer and softly says, “I really need to talk to you.”

“Just tell her already,” Farrah interrupts. She comes to stand next to Dan, laying a hand on his lower arm and giving me a cold stare. “She’s not an idiot. She knows."

Dan’s usual friendly mood has completely disappeared. Instead, he looks almost angry, which is an emotion I’ve never seen on him before. His hands have curled into fists, his jaw has locked and his eyebrows have lowered. The rest of his face is carefully blank as he gives Farrah an unimpressed look and asks, very slowly, “What does she know?”

“Yeah,” I say, the sudden steel in my voice surprising me. “What do I know?”

If Farrah notices Dan’s hidden fury, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she looks at him with big eyes. “That we belong together, of course.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh. I know, I know. I really didn't want to end the chapter here either, at such a crappy cliffhanger, but there was no other way. Real life is being a huge b**** this week and unfortunately I didn't have the time to edit the entire chapter, hence the rather abrupt ending :( 
> 
> Hopefully the extra dose of Freddie and Thomas made up for it. I just love those two.
> 
> Also, I'm thinking of writing a sixth chapter/ epilogue for this story. Any people who might be interested in reading that? Let me know in the comments! And while you're there, don't forget to tell me what you thought of this chapter :D
> 
> Have a great day/ evening/ night, everyone!


	5. Oh I Feel Overjoyed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Drumroll* Here it is! Finally! It's been a long and tiring ride, with quite some bumps along the way, but I'm finally able to post the final chapter of WYLTMW! 
> 
> A huge thank you goes out for those of you who have been so understanding and supportive. Your kind messages helped me keep motivated ;) This story was a great way to ease my way back into being a fanfic-writer after so many years of absence. You could not have been more lovely! 
> 
> LITTLE SIDE-NOTE: I don't know if Adele was a surprise act at Glastonbury 2016. For the sake of this story, she was.

It’s like Farrah kicked me in the stomach. I’m frozen among the milling crowd of Glastonbury, gaping at her, as her words echo through my head.

We belong together.

‘We’, as in Farrah and Dan. Not as in Dan and I. Which isn’t exactly a surprise, but it still stings.

Next to me, Dan is speechless. He opens his mouth, closes it again, runs a hand through his already tousled hair.

Farrah takes advantage of his shock and gives me another ice-cold glare. “I mean, I’m sorry to say this,” she scoffs, “but it seems pretty obvious to me. Look at you. You’re not what he wants.”

Freddie gasps.

The sound is exactly what I need to break my stupor. I turn to the side and focus all of my attention on Dan.

“Is that true?” I ask, heart beating wildly in my chest. It hurts to say the words, but I force them out anyway. It’s time we cleared this, for once and for all. “Do you not want me? Are you-“ I let out a big whoosh of air. “Are you playing a game, or something?”

Dan looks right at me. “Is that what you think?”

And just like that, we’re in that bubble again. It’s only him and I. Nothing else matters. I look into his eyes, those blue eyes that made me fall head over heels in love with him, and I know.

“Do you think I’m playing a game?” Dan repeats solemnly. He takes a step closer, but he doesn’t touch me.

I shake my head faintly. “No.”

He grins. A huge, happy grin that he’s not even trying to control.

He’s still smiling when he turns to Farrah and says, “Look, Farrah, I’m really sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, but-”

“We’ve had sex!” She screeches, just a tad too loudly.

My stomach plummets. I feel like she kicked me a second time –which is stupid, because again: not exactly a surprise. But that doesn’t mean it can’t hurt. I secretly hope that Dan will shake his head and deny it, say that she’s lying, but he doesn’t.

Instead he nods. “That’s true. But we talked about that. We both knew what that was: platonic sex. No strings attached. We agreed that there weren’t any feelings involved.”

This time Farrah looks like she’s the one who’s been kicked.

I can’t help it. Out of the blue, I feel sorry for her. I can practically feel it coming: a nagging, not-exactly welcome feeling of pity bubbling to the surface. Sure, she’s proven to be an absolute bitch, but even bitches have feelings. And she clearly has feelings for Dan –something I can sympathise with all too well.

I’m about to suggest that we take this conversation somewhere else (somewhere more private, without other people that are looking at Dan with curiosity on their faces, obviously thinking ‘Is that…?’), but Farrah squares her shoulders and juts her chin forward.

“You want to be with… _her_?” She asks, disgust clear in her voice.

 _Aaaaaaand_ the sympathy is gone.

I feel my cheeks redden when she looks at me like I’m something she’s found on the bottom of her Burberry wellies.

Dan just nods. “I do.”

Farrah turns around with an indignant huff and stalks off. It’s a relief and an unexpected anti-climax at the same time.

I watch her as she goes, beyond confused. Honestly, I can see where she’s coming from. When you get to decide between a Priyanka Chopra-look-a-like and a bare-faced, unbathed, nondescript girl with a bruised nose and a pair of glasses that are threatening to fall apart any minute… You don’t pick the latter, do you? You go for the Bollywood-actress.

Dan is making a huge mistake. I don’t want to tell him that, but I need to. Even if he doesn’t get together with Farrah, he still shouldn’t be with me. We don’t fit. We’re too different.

“Farrah is much more beautiful than I am,” I say, stating the obvious.

“Hmm,” Dan mumbles, looking at me with a faint frown on his face. He takes another step forward and brushes a lock of hair behind my ear, bringing my face closer to his. “I disagree.”

We’re so close that I forget what I was talking about for a couple of seconds.

Then I remember.

“She is, though,” I tell him. “Beautiful, I mean. And much better suited to you. She works at your record label. She fits in your world.”

“And you think you don’t? Is that what you’re saying?”

I nod, swallowing thickly.

Dan chuckles. His frown fades away. “Do I fit into your world?”

I think about it.

No, he doesn’t, I realise. Or at least, not in my professional world. I can’t see him at university gatherings, chatting away with my colleagues about quantum physics and black holes in our universe. He’d probably stand quietly by my side for the entire evening, drink in one hand, feeling extremely uncomfortable in his suit and tie.

But those gatherings would only happen three or four times a year. And we would get to go home afterwards, together. He would take of his tie the second we were out of the building, and that would mean that we were leaving our professional worlds, entering the personal one. We’d get take-out, eat it on my sofa and watch re-runs of Storage Wars until I fell asleep.

I could see him there, on my sofa. In my home. He could leave some sweatpants and comfortable jumpers in my flat. He could get his spare keyboard and put it next to my bookshelves. I could get some pyjama trousers and a stack of books and leave them at his place.

That would fit.

And if we met up with friends or family, that would fit too.

Dan must see the realisation dawn upon me, because he holds my face between his two hands and moves even closer, until all I can see is him. His blue eyes sparkle. Dimples have appeared in his cheeks.

“See?” He says. “We’d fit pretty perfectly, if you ask me.”

He brings his lips to mine until they’re almost touching, but not quite. His breath is warm against my face.

“Now, if you wouldn’t mind,” he continues, “I’d like to kiss you. And please kiss me back. I think Freddie might be filming this.”

Before I have the chance to look over to my best friend, or to even fully register his words, he kisses me. In the background, I can hear someone (probably Freddie) clap and whistle, but I barely notice. All I focus on is Dan. His lips are incredibly soft as he presses them against me; tender, but not as uncertain as during our first kiss. This time, he presses them firmly against mine, moving one hand to the small of my back to pull me closer against him. His tongue slowly moves over my bottom lip. My knees nearly buckle.

I completely lose myself into the kiss for what seems like an eternity, but what can’t be more than a couple of seconds. When he lifts his mouth away, he leans his forehead against mine and gives me a small smile. It’s brimming with happiness, though.

“We still need to talk about Farrah,” I warn him. Just because he’s a good kisser, doesn’t mean I’ve completely forgotten about the hundred or so unanswered questions swimming around in my head.

His smile doesn’t diminish. If anything, it only grows bigger. “I know,” he says. “I’ll give you all the answers you want. But later, okay?” He ducks and presses another quick kiss against my lips. “For now, all you need to know is that there’s nothing to worry about.”

I believe him.

“Thomas!” I hear Freddie screech behind us. “Thomas, we’re over here!”

I look up just in time to see Thomas lift my best friend in the air, twirl her around a couple of times and smooch her cheek when he finally sets her down again. “I have the best news!” He exclaims excitedly.

Freddie laughs. “Yeah, you’re not alone.”

She nods in the direction of Dan and I. Thomas looks over, beaming as soon as he realises what’s going on. “Fucking finally!” He says, not letting go of his girlfriend. “Took you idiots long enough.”

Dan rolls his eyes, but smiles good-naturedly. “Piss off, mate.”

He presses a kiss to my cheek and I feel my face growing hot.

Freddie winks at me.

It makes me blush even more furiously, so I quickly turn my attention back to Thomas. “What’s the news?”

“They’ve announced the final act for today.” Thomas’ eyes are twinkling. “It’s Adele!”

Freddie’s jaw drops. She tries to shut her mouth, but it just drops again. “Seriously?” She squeals. Even though she usually rocks out to punk rock and all kinds of alternative bands whose names I can’t even pronounce, she’s a sucker for Adele. ‘Someone Like You’ never fails to make her cry like a baby.

Thomas nods. At the exact same time, the lights on the stage die down. James Bay has already finished his set. ‘Adele’ appears in big bold letters all over the screen. The crowd around us cheers.

“Oh my God,” Freddie says, breathless.

Adele doesn’t start much later. The crowd has grown significantly and whereas before we had plenty of space up on the hill, we’re now standing in a mass of people.

“Wanna move? Get away from the crowd?” Dan asks, his breath hot against my ear, just before the singer enters the stage.

When the people around us had started to push a couple of minutes ago, he had moved to stand behind me, folding his arms around my waist. I let myself lean back against his chest and pretended not to see Thomas and Freddie looking far too pleased with this new development.

“Nah,” I say, and bask in the feeling of having him around me. “Just as long as nobody punches me in the nose, this is a pretty good place to be.”

 

+++

 

It takes me a couple of moments to realise where I am when I wake up. It’s hot, just like last morning when I woke up in my tent, but it’s a different kind of hot. I’m not sticky or uncomfortable. No, I’m gloriously cosy –which is not something I expected from camping.

I shift, rolling onto my stomach and stretching my legs.

That’s when reality hits me. Nobody can move around this easily in a sleeping bag. Which means that I’m not in one, but instead laying under actual sheets. On an actual bed.

And the reason I’m this warm is the person holding me. A very tall, very warm, very naked male person.

Dan. Immediately, I’m wide awake. My heart picks up speed and butterflies flutter in my stomach. I’m being held by Dan.

Suddenly, I’m very aware of his hand on my bare hip and the fact that I’m not in my own tiny tent, but in his rather large VIP-one. It doesn’t even look like a tent, really. This could be a very nice hotel room (if you ignore the canvas walls).

Behind me, Dan moves. His grip on me tightens and I can feel absent-minded kisses being pressed to the back of my shoulders, to my hair.

Oh God, my hair. It’s bound to look like a nightmare, especially after all the tossing and turning we did last night.

Becoming slowly but surely aware of every inch of Dan surrounding me, memories of last night flood. I blush furiously, because even though I’m twenty-six years old and not a child by any means, some of the things we did last night render me speechless… It was hot and unexpected and full of bliss, but that’s not all it was. It was also a little awkward at times, a little uncomfortable as we got to know each other’s bodies. I remember small smiles and full-blown belly laughs.

My blush quiets down and the corners of my mouth quirk up.

I’ve never known that sex could be so much fun.

“Stop it,” Dan mutters behind me, his voice scratchy with sleep.

I startle. He moves his hand from my hip to my side, moulding his body against mine as he holds me tighter. His skin is both rough and soft, giving me goose bumps.

“Stop it,” he says again. “I can hear you thinking. It’s six o’clock, go back to sleep. We still have a couple of hours before we have to wake up.”

I force my muscles to unclench, letting my body sink back into the mattress. It’s really soft. Much better than the sturdy sleeping mat in my own tent. My mouth opens to say something, but I can’t think of any words.

Dan snuggles even closer.

“No regrets, right?” He asks. I can feel his lips ghost over my skin.

“No regrets,” I whisper back, closing my eyes again. And I mean it. There are about a thousand things I want to say, a thousand questions I need to ask, but for right now, I’m happy to just lie here with him and not say anything.

 

+++

 

Dan somehow gets us VIP-passes for the last day of Glastonbury. Freddie and Thomas are overjoyed, jumping around and thanking him repeatedly. After a while, Dan simply tells them to shut up. I smile as he presses a kiss against my lips.

We’re together. He made that very clear this morning, after we’d finally dragged ourselves out of bed and to his shower. (He had his own shower. I was practically green with jealousy.)

“Where are you going?” He had asked me, looking very confused, when he saw me zip up my boots. “I’m going to get you breakfast.”

I had combed a hand through my still-wet hair. “Breakfast? I- I thought that you’d probably want me to-”

“Go?” Dan finished for me. He had shaken his hand, grabbed my shoulders and gently but determinedly steered me to the little sitting area in one corner of his tent. He regarded me with a huge, dopey grin, looking the happiest I’d seen him in years. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re my girl now, can’t let you starve.”

He scratched his stubble and winked. “I’m going to get you breakfast, VIP-passes, take you to some shows and then tonight, when all of this is over, I’m finally taking you on a date.

“Although, I think a night in might be better,” he continued pensively, before I could protest. “There are some things we need to talk about first. What do you say? Let’s order some pizza tonight and then go out the next time?”

My smile was so big that I thought my head was about to split into two.

“Dan!”

A shout shakes me from my reverie. Dan, Thomas, Freddie and I are making our way to the big stage, where Bastille will be performing in little over an hour. Glastonbury is coming to its end –I’m exhausted, but also the happiest I can remember being in a long time.

Dan turns around, and since he’s got an arm around my shoulders, he’s turning me with him.

His bandmates are making their way towards us, followed by their own perspective friends, and greet him with huge smiles. It’s obvious that they’re all looking forward to their performance tonight, as they should be.

I’ve taken a step back to let them do their man-hugs, but Dan takes hold of my hand as soon as they’re done. I’m kind of amazed at how tactile he is. I probably should have expected it, but somehow it came as a surprise.

“Hey,” Woody greets me. “So he finally took a shot, huh?”

“Sorry?” I say, not understanding.

Woody nods at our linked hands and lets his smile grow even wider. “Dan’s been pining after you for years –we had a bet going on about when he was finally going to man up.”

“Mate!” Dan exclaims.

“We didn’t have a bet,” Will says quickly, shooting me a wink and pushing Dan in the direction for the backstage area. “C’mon, let’s get ready. Are you guys staying around to watch?”

“You bet,” Thomas nods, looking up from his conversation with Kyle. Next to him, Freddie is looking up at the keyboard-player adoringly.

Woody mutters something unintelligible.

I’ve met him, Will and Kyle a couple of times over the past few years, but I don’t know them very well. I guess that’s going to change now.

“So… Pretty good plan after all, huh?” Freddie smiles at me much later, when the band is doing a final sound check before they start, the crowd chanting excitedly behind us. She clearly means coming to Glastonbury in the hopes that it will make Dan see me in another light.

I beam, thinking back of what he said to me yesterday, in the privacy of his tent.

“I’ve been half in love with you since the moment we met,” he had whispered, brushing a piece of hair away from my face. He was looking at me with such tenderness that my knees had threatened to give out. “How did you not know that?”

“Pretty good plan, after all,” I agree and watch as Bastille takes the stage. From his place by the mic, Dan looks over and shoots me a wink, before the band launches into ‘Send Them Off’. “Who knows? It might be the best one I’ve ever had.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it. I hoped you enjoyed that :)
> 
> I'm making this story part of a series that you can subscribe to if you want, so you'll get a notification whenever inspiration strikes and I decide to post a continuation. I definitely plan on writing some one-shots to explore the future of these two lovebirds! 
> 
> I hope all of you started 2017 wonderfully -even though it may not have been easy considering some of the things that are happening in the world right now. Stay strong, stay together and spread the love <3
> 
> \- A 
> 
> p.s. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this final chapter... Or on Bastille... Or on anything, really :) You can talk to me here or find me on [tumblr](https://cycling-lane.tumblr.com), if that's your kind of thing!


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